Starship Troopers: Laser Tag Parties
How many times have you wanted to shoot those women in human resources who think they’re better than your work group, your friend who insists his baseball team is better than yours, or even your kids when they won’t stop running around and screaming? Now’s your chance. Laser tag parties offer you the opportunity to vent excess energy and frustrations without anyone getting hurt!
A laser tag game is the indoor, no-mess equivalent of paintballing. Instead of using weapons that fire actual bullets – even if they’re only filled with vegetable dyes – laser tag uses light beams and special detectors. When you pull the trigger, a beam of light fires, and if it hits the vest worn by someone on the enemy team, it causes the vest to flash and beep, indicating that they’ve been “killed”.
The biggest advantage of the no-bullets system is that it’s completely safe and provides a secure, controlled environment, so a laser tag birthday party can be arranged for kids as young as 5-7 years old (depending on the venue) – or as old as 50-70!
Scenery, Scores and Games
This is primarily an indoor sport, so your laser tag adventure usually takes place in a hi-tech science fiction arena. The play zone is often kept quite dark, and may have dry-ice smoke emitters, flashing lights, special safe zones, bases, barriers, corridors, tunnels and a variety of other features that add to the close quarters combat excitement.
Normally, getting “killed” just deactivates a player for a period, or until they return to a base zone, so matches are timed. After the laser tag game time period is over, scores are totaled and everyone finds out who won – and can share their war stories!
The laser tag game vests are linked directly to a central computer to keep score, either wirelessly or when the game ends, and there are many different game types, including:
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the paintballing staple, last man standing
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capture the flag, where each team tries to steal the enemy’s flag while guarding their own
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protect the VIP, where one team tries to protect an individual against the opposition
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stealth games, where the vest’s indicator lights are turned off in a dark environment
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juggernaut games, like playground “tag”
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elimination matches, where getting hit a number of times removes players from the game
All of this makes a laser tag birthday party the ideal choice for a large group of kids: most venues will take a couple dozen participants at a time!
Outdoor Games
Laser tag for kids takes place almost exclusively indoors, and most laser tag birthday parties are offered in urban areas, but it is possible to find an outdoor version. The gear is similar, and works in the same way, though it’s usually intended for adult players. Even the US Military uses laser tag games as part of its training program, the technology is so good!
Getting Serious
This game of fake combat is so popular that it’s easy to find laser tag near me, near you, near just about anyone. Perhaps the best thing about it is that there’s no fuss and no pain. It’s all indoors, and it’s all a good laugh, even if you’re an awful shot, so a laser tag game is the perfect team-building exercise or birthday outing.
Believe it or not, there are world championships for the game, so if your laser tag birthday party or team-building event turns up some serious participants, you could even consider forming a permanent team and aiming higher than you originally intended. Who knows… what started as a good excuse to shoot the company accountant could end with corporate sponsorship, uniforms, specialist equipment, and worldwide acclaim!